October 1, 2004 - For night owls, it can be hard to get into the best clubs or know if you're in the best spot for local music and flavor when you're traveling. Fortunately, some travel tour companies provide just those opportunities for creatures of the night.
First of all, only certain cities with incredible nigh life opportunities offer night time tours. New York, Madrid, Toronto, Rio, Vegas, London, Dublin, Mexico City, Barcelona and Paris are perfect examples. Not so much in Phoenix or Columbus, Ohio -- wonderful cities in their own right -- just not known so much for night culture. Any good concierge with knowledge of his town should lead you somewhere else besides a W Hotel.
In Madrid, a one-day night tour of the city gives you access to a private chauffer who picks you up at your hotel door and escorts you to a lively Madrid restaurant and then gets you a front row table at a popular Flamenco dancing venue where you can watch or participate. Offered by EuroAdventure Vacations, the $160 per person (and if you go alone) can be booked online through InfoHub (www.infohub.com/TRAVEL/SIT/sit_pages/12353.html). The locally connected guide is yours for the night and will take you to modern discoteques as well.
If a form of dance more modern than Flamenco is your thing, then a host of web sites offer special deals and discounts on house and disco music performances and venues as well as VIP access to certain venues. Pub Club (www.pubclub.com/happyhour/index.htm) offers package deals to certain cities and events on a regular basis. Currently, the site lists a seven- or nine-night air-inclusive trip that guarantees admittance and VIP treatment to all its travelers starting at $1,199. The site also offers a Full Moon Party in Thailand tour over Thanksgiving. The nine-night trip offers air from the West Coast (other locales are available for an additional fee), hotel, group party nights including the full moon rave, and sightseeing options on a three beautiful beachy islands of Pattaya, Ko Somui and Koh Phan-Ngan for starting at $1,999. Look for similar trips to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and other party locales from the site soon.
If you're more of a D-I-Y bar hopper, two excellent web sites have excellent night calendars for a number of cities. Club Planet (www.clubplanet.com) offers a city-by-city guide to the best area clubs. The site enjoys partnerships with big venues where surfers can get discounts on admission as well as access to special guest lists. Rhythmism (www.rhythmism.com) is a new music community site with the best New York City music schedule. The site's vibrant message boards boast a following of music insiders who crave leading new-comers to the "more interesting" events. You may even receive an invite to a more underground or private event.
